A Blast From The Past

You can see what I found attractive...........to me he looked not unlike Pete Townsend of The Who. Or Cat Stevens. This picture is a still from a climbing film made at Freycinet ca, 1974/5 by the Launceston Walking Club. The film-maker might have been Norton Harvey. This was sent to me by a young acquintance who happened upon it while going through the LWC film archives. Well, after more than 40 years of marriage (yes, I was a Child Bride!) he doesn't look like this any more, but like a good wine or an old violin, I think he is improving with maturity!

My little Thursday's Child is coming along - the doll itself is pretty much finished and now I need to work on the accoutrements - a little bag, a book, maybe.........The box she is sitting on will become a steamer trunk with a bit of work. To me she looks like a lonely little Irish immigrant.

Thursday's Child

"Thursday's Child has far to go........."
Working on this piece for a storybook-themed submission. She's a little traveller and will be sitting on a steamer trunk dressed in travel clothes ca 1900. She might also have a few treasured possessions. A book. A doll.
Here she is so far:

The Valentine's Day Love Carrot and other Miscellany

There is love even in Carrot World - look at these inseparably entwined in-love carrots we uprooted today - couldn't bear to separate them, chop them up and eat them!

I sometimes get asked to do some unusual/interesting things - these past few days I have been repairing the concrete eagle sculpture that is the emblem of the school I worked at until recently - it was badly vandalised during the holidays. Concrete is a difficult sculpting medium, but I managed to restore him to something approaching his former glory. This is the second time I have done this job - don't you just LOVE vandals! Here are a few before and after shots.

And lookee here! My Sukeshi dolls were featured in Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine in the MuseFlash section.

Ah! Little Girls!

I don't know what it is, but I do so love to make these rather nostalgic little girl dolls. Perhaps they are comforting reminders of my own childhood - a sunny and wonderful place in the 1950's. (That sounds so long ago now!) Anyway, whatever the compulsion is to making these dolls is, here is the latest, as yet un-named. She is the model for a wig-making PDF that I am in the process of writing up for sale in my Etsy store. The wig is hand-knotted mohair.......a time-consuming process, but it makes a very fine wig if you have the patience and time.

Any suggestions for a name gratefully accepted!

The Hand Problem..................

Cloth doll hands can be a real problem - often they are the one feature that will let down an otherwise fine piece, because they are clunky, or unnatural looking. It took me quite a few years of experimenting to come up with a cloth hand that I was happy with - the biggest breakthrough was using the idea of a separate thumb - I was able to locate the thumb in a much more natural relationship with the rest of the fingers, rather than having them all on the same plane. Here's how I do it:

Arms/hands sewn and turned; small hole nipped where "thumb bone" would be.

                    Pipe-cleaner framework made to insert into hand - stuffs and wires in one go!

Frame-work inserted - note the wire protruding from the thumb hole.

           Hand and arm filled and a small piece of wadding wrapped around the base of the thumb.

Thumb covering slipped on - it will be ladder-stitched in place.

                                                                    Expressive hands!

Heart Art

Here's a little something I have made for a swap hosted by the Mixed Media Art site. For Valentine's Day, of course, but how weird that I happened to be working on this when I was carted off to hospital with  heart problem! I'm thinking that maybe I have to be a bit careful about what I make!

Back In The Saddle!

After a summer of many visitors (with all the extra cooking and washing that seems to entail), a bout of ill health, including a hospital stay, an interstate class and the annual string music camp, things are finally starting to settle into a more normal routine.......whew!

Here is a special order Zozie doll I finally got completed and sent off:

And here are the unfinished projects I'll be working on over the next little while (in between visits to the GP and cardiologist and the odd test or three!)